Richtmyer–Meshkov (RM) instability is regarded as a central role for understanding the hydrodynamic processes involved in inertial confinement fusion, supersonic combustion and supernova explosion. Because of its academic implication and engineering applications, the RM instability has received much attention since it was proposed. As an important tool for studying RM instability, shock tube experiment on shock–fluid interface interaction has been widely adopted and great progress has been achieved in past decades. The generation of a shock wave, the formation of an initial interface and the diagnostic of flow field are the three elements for studying the RM instability experimentally. This review surveys the advances in experimental investigations of RM instability in shock tube environment. Originating from a simple configuration as a planar shock interacting with a simple perturbed interface, the experimental study of RM instability approaches more complex situations like a convergent shock with a simple interface, or a planar shock with a complex interface. It is then expected that the experimental study on the real circumstance may be realized by using a complex shock with a complex interface. Finally, we propose the following issues for future study: (1) evolution of the RM instability induced by cylindrically converging shock waves; (2) effect of the three dimensions on the RM instability; (3) interaction of perturbed shock wave with an initially uniform or perturbed interface; and (4) formation and mixing mechanism of the compressible turbulence in the final stage of the RM instability.
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